Editorial: Salinas Valley State Prison probe wrong on many levels

The Department of State Hospitals has made an indefensible decision to investigate the unexplained death of a mental health patient at Salinas Valley State Prison. That's indefensible as in improper, inappropriate, unsupportable, illogical and simply wrong.

Here's why. The Department of State Hospitals is in charge of the psychiatric unit at the Soledad prison, which means the department is investigating itself. On top of that, because of federal patient confidentiality rules, best known as HIPAA, the department says it won't be able to tell anyone else the results.

In fact, the department says it can't even confirm that the dead man, Desmond J. Watkins, 36, was a patient there or that he is dead, though he was and is. Whether the department has made any attempt to contact his family so it could waive the HIPAA rules isn't known, of course. That would be tantamount to acknowledging the reality of his existence and demise, which could reflect poorly on the department, which couldn't be the motivation for any of this.

Or could it?

Watkins' death on March 22 came at an inconvenient time for state prison officials, who are in the final stages of a bureaucratic wrestling match with the federal government over control of the mental health system within the prison system. He was at the prison for mental health treatment after being found incompetent to stand trial in a San Luis Obispo County assault case.

To prevent other psychiatric patients from essentially disappearing in similar fashion, it is obvious that another agency should be brought in to investigate the death. The Monterey County Sheriff's Office or District Attorney's Office come to mind, as do many other entities.

Otherwise, this is yet another indication that federal oversight of the Department of Corrections' psychiatric services should be extended and intensified.